Wu Dayu

executed circa 1950

Important Private Asian Collection

Wu Dayu: Works on Paper vol. 1, Lin & Keng Gallery Inc., Taipei, 2010, pp. 270, 272 & 279

These works are overall in very good condition.
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Shixiang : Dynamic Expressionism

The evolution of Wu Dayu's painting from figurative to abstract was more than a superficial stylistic transformation; it was a transition that marked the culmination of the artist's development in philosophy, aesthetics, and life experience. The turning point came during his secluded life in Shanghai during the War of Resistance. After he returned home from studying abroad, he taught for a decade at National Hangzhou School of Fine Art, where he was a consistent advocate and disseminator of Western modernism. Once he resigned his post, he immersed himself in solitary contemplation, and he reflected on his decades of experience in China and the West. It was an opportunity to take a new direction. For eight long years, Wu broke off nearly all his connections to the outside world. He used his ample time to read and think deeply, and he wrote letters to his students in South-western China, sharing the results of his ruminations. It was during these years that Wu Dayu began to make abstract paintings and developed a unique artistic sensibility and lexicon. Artworks are the realisation of ideas, and ideas provide the intent for artworks: they are two sides of the same coin. In order to interpret the depths of Wu Dayu's abstract paintings, we must analyse his theoretical writings, which are wide-ranging, profound, and abstruse. One word from these texts, Shixiang, which can be translated into "Dynamic Expressionism", reveals the quintessence of his theory of art.

Wu Dayu's Shixiang : Opening the Door to Chinese Abstract Art

In April 1941, in a letter to Wu Guanzhong, Wu Dayu wrote that " Shixiang is only visible if they are obscured". This was the first time he used the term Shixiang, an idea that lies at the core of Wu's theory of abstraction. He later elaborated on the idea of Shixiang: "The beauty of shixiang is as clear as ice and as pure as the moon. Possessing weight but not form, this beauty is more abstract than the beauty of any work of architecture. It is like seeing the shadows of a piece of music, like a fine turn of phrase—but not the words it comprises". On the back side of the letter, Wu discusses subjects such as "the Eastern aesthetic of shixiang ", "the obscure mystique of shixiang ", and "the aesthetic of shixiang that lives in symbols". Evidently, Wu Dayu conceived of gesture as a kind of beauty that exists invisibly within the figurative world: an Eastern approach that corresponded to the Western notion of abstraction.

The origins of modern Western abstract painting can be traced to Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Kazimir Malevich, who together constituted the so-called "Blue Rider" group. The abstract paintings they created in the 1910s and 1920s comprised certain basic elements—dots, planes, geometric compositions, and tableaus constructed of seemingly random forms—that express an amorphous beauty. At the same time, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque's Cubism, which has always been tucked under the umbrella of abstract art, placed the emphasis on using different perspectives to deconstruct and rebuild objective physical images. Thus did Western painting break free from the tradition of one-point perspective.  These two movements are representative of the Western abstractionism that Wu Dayu encountered when he studied in France in the 1920s. Wu derived his notion of shixiang from the dichotomy of figurative and abstract: the concrete world contains abstract beauty, and abstract beauty is reliant upon figurative objects. The concrete and abstract are like two sides of the same coin, and one cannot exist without the other.

The roots of Wu Dayu's theory of Shixiang lie in the philosophical realms of epistemology and ontology. If we can grasp Wu's theory, we can see why his abstract paintings often contain figurative elements that disintegrate into abstract compositions. In order to describe the gesture concept, Wu Guanzhong once cited a phrase from an untitled poem by Wu Dayu: "pausing to think in the fleeting moment when the setting sun lights up the clouds", a description of the subjective experience of objective phenomena, and the process of extracting abstract beauty from that which is concrete.

The Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist Philosophy within Shixiang

Wu Dayu did not formulate his theory of gesture by studying painting technique and art forms. Rather, he studied Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and the philosophical underpinnings of poetry and calligraphy in order to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework. The relationship between Western abstraction and Eastern gesture is one of both rival claims and mutual correspondence. As Wu Dayu explored poetry and calligraphy, he observed that "the structures in my mind are re-arrangements of the parameters of time and space, like calligraphy without linguistic symbols and patterns that transcend form". The rhythms of poetry and the lines of calligraphy are the abstract aesthetics that represent thousands of years of Chinese culture. Rhythm and line rely on the written character to exist, but are not necessarily connected to the meaning of the character. Herein lies the symbiotic dichotomy between abstract and concrete. The dialectical approach of Wu's meditations is reminiscent of the Daoist concept of Yin-Yang and the Buddhist notion of reciprocity between reality and void. "Pausing to think in the fleeting moment when the setting sun lights up the clouds" represent a unity of subjective and objective that corresponds to the words of Zhuangzi, "heaven and earth were born together with me and the myriad things are one with me", as well as the theory of integration between man and nature expounded by the Han Dynasty Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu.

The Influence of Shixiang on the Disciples of Wu Dayu

Shixiang, as defined by Wu Dayu, is an Eastern aesthetic concept with a philosophical basis, not a nationalistic attempt to resist the tide of Western thought. On the contrary, Wu's scholarship reveals him to be a broad-minded citizen of the world. He proposed the idea of shixiang in response to the idea of abstraction. The concepts are like the two ends of a bridge of communication between Eastern and Western modern art. He once said, "the integration of Eastern and Western art that people talk about is too narrow in its vision ... this integration of Eastern and Western art, melded together, stuck to each other, must be thrown out. Throw it all out. What I paint is my own"; "when people talk about the East studying the West, or the West studying the East, they are speaking in a way that is too limited. All of it amounts to exoticism. If one side studies another side in art, what is there to say about it?"; "Eastern and Western art are two co-dependent parts of one whole. Attaining a state of inspiration requires the acme of virtue, not merely skill of hand and eye". Wu Dayu shared his theory of gesture with Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, Wu Guanzhong, Lalan, and other pupils in letters that date to the 1940s. Zao, Chu, Wu, and Lalan subsequently studied in France, uniting Eastern shixiang with Western abstraction just as post-war sentiments were taking the form of abstractionism and abstract expressionism in a rising tide throughout Europe and the United States.

Seen from this perspective, Zao Wou-Ki's exploration of abstraction using oracle-bone inscriptions, including his first formally abstract painting, Vent, reminds us of Wu Dayu's inspiring consideration of "the aesthetic of shixiang that lives in symbols". Chu Teh-Chun began creating abstract paintings with lines from Chinese calligraphy in the 1950s, and Lalan incorporated music and dance into her canvases. These developments, as well as Wu Guanzhong's artistic proposition that "the kite shall never desert its line", can all be traced back to Wu Dayu's theory.

Wu deserves to be called a teacher of masters, not only because of his role as a mentor to a plethora of famous artists at National Hangzhou School of Fine Art, but also because of the theoretical system he established, which became a wellspring of ideas for the following generation. The brilliant careers of his various students illuminated new facets of his ideas. Wu Dayu taught with his actions as well as his words. He forged National Hangzhou School of Fine Art into China's most important modern art academy, and beyond that, his theory of shixiang rivals France's Lyrical Abstraction and the United States' Abstract Expressionism as one of the central concepts of modern art history.

Mustard Seeds on Mt. Meru: A Tiny Cosmos

Wu Dayu’s Untitled II-477 and Untitled II-482

On the subject of his artwork, Wu Dayu once said, "I paint with breadth of mind, and heaven and earth are the frame. I bare my heart, sprinkle mustard seeds on Mt. Meru, and flick my brush hither and thither". Of these words, the phrase "sprinkle mustard seeds on Mt. Meru", is particularly important. It comes from the Buddhist notion that Mt. Meru, the abode of the Gods, accepts even tiny mustard seeds in its soil, hinting at the relationship between the miniscule and the infinite. From Wu Dayu's artwork, we can see that the artist sought to use the limited space of the canvas to express the boundless ideas of his mind. Wu's works in crayon on paper include a series of pocket-sized drawings that possess brilliant use of colour, rich compositions, and rigorous structures no less exquisite than those of his larger oil paintings. The abstract structures of Untitled II-477 and Untitled II-482  (Lot 1006) contain the essence of the theatrical makeup styles of Beijing opera, and the intense colours seem to supersede and devour their own shape. Untitled II-477 features a fierce and free colour scheme. The drawing's abstract composition is dominated by a large red shape that, once amended by a series of indigo lines, seems to suggest the long cheeks and short nose of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, who is a key figure in Beijing opera. Untitled II-482 also blazes with colour: hues of pink and short, bold lines shape the tableau. The concentration of blue, yellow, red, brown, and black lines at the centre of the picture recall a dahualian (literally "big painted face") character with a strong, tough demeanour. The two drawings compress the whimsical colours and dramatic airs of the world of the stage into abstract portraits in miniature. These examples of Wu Dayu's expressive artistry are both concentrated and exuberant.

Wu Dayu placed much importance on his creative process, which he viewed as a means of interrogating his innermost thoughts and feelings. He once stated explicitly that there was no need to sign his artworks, which he thought "can go and express themselves", but this does not mean that he did not care if people appreciated his work. On the contrary, the following poem of his reveals Wu Dayu’s cherished desire that his drawings and paintings, like encodings of the secrets of life, would resonate with wise kindred spirits who he may never chance to meet.

I Spend a Lifetime of Meticulous Care

I spend a lifetime of meticulous care

In dots and drips, having endured countless sobs,

all misery, recorded in my heart.

All written on a sheet of snow-white paper,

Filled as if by an army of ants,

Or silkworm eggs, in order to give it to you,

A stranger from afar, only passing through.